MINNESOTA (WCCO) -- More than eight decades after a Minnesota soldier went missing during World War II, his remains have been found. In May 1944, Harlan Melinsky went missing in Italy after he and his fellow soldiers came under attack from Germans. During an interview five years ago, one of his nieces talked about the attack. “They went out on patrol, and he was the first man out. When they all came back, he never came back,” said Mary Holm, niece. Still, his Howard Lake, Minnesota, family never lost hope. In 2021, a farmer in Itri, Italy, found Melinsky’s dog tags on his property. “Disbelief, I mean after all that time,” said Verla Olson, niece. Olson said the discovery gave her family renewed optimism that her uncle’s remains would finally be recovered. She and one of her sisters even made a trip to Italy to see what they could find. “Just seeing where that dog tag had been found was just kind of overwhelming,” said Olson. But there were still no answers. Then, this summer, Olson got a phone call from her brother. “The first thing he said was, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I always think there’s bad news,” said Olson. It turned out to be good news. Thanks to help from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, her uncle’s body had been found and genetic testing confirmed his identity. “Just that it’s positive now, it’s pretty amazing to us,” said Olson. The next step now is to bring Melinsky home. That should happen soon, and when it does, they are hoping he’ll be buried at the family’s cemetery plot in Howard Lake. “He has a marker there, and the marker is by his parents and then his brother, Grant,” said Olson. When Melinsky is finally put to rest, Olson believes her family will have the closure they’ve been waiting for, for more than 80 years. “Just hope. There’s always, always hope,” said Olson. By John Lauritsen
